Song of The Year-Private Room by Niko Is produced by Thanks Joey or My Pitch for you to buy the Brutus LP

Song of The Year-Private Room by Niko Is produced by Thanks Joey or My Pitch for you to buy the Brutus LP

by Dan-O

In an ideal world I would go four thousand words deep on the Brutus LP. This being a free music based site I don’t think that would be right but…BUY Brutus. Niko has been cranking out music chock full of jarring images, insane metaphors and left field name checks for years and most of it with his companion Thanks Joey. The two have a collaborative chemistry based around the warmth of soul (Brazilian soul!) and Samba music and the fun of digging deep into the mystery machine of Niko’s mind. They’ve been working on Brutus for years and the wait is the hardest part. Whenever you wait a long time for an album it’s bound to be disappointing; too spot on what you wanted or not at all what the artist should be doing. Brutus by comparison wears the timeless starched and pressed sound of something combed over and refined. It’s the greatest accomplishment the two have and it was worth the wait.

Picking one song to highlight was difficult. The collaborations with other artists are very interesting; Talib Kweli sounds joyful and sharp on Carmen, Cyhi The Prynce fits the chunky soul of Bubba like a glove but Private Room is the best encapsulation of the Joey/Niko sound. Niko is less silly on Brutus (still very silly) and more focused on rapping himself into history. I always think of it as that Reasonable Doubt mindstate; that album is special because you can feel Jay saying “if this is my one shot I’ve got to tell you everything” and this is Niko’s statement. Its Joey’s statement as well; the gentle warmth of the guitar and baseline feel like the source of Niko’s mid tempo flow. The song is so very chill but the most intricately gorgeous chill you’ve heard in rap in years. Every song is a puzzle piece that’s its own puzzle with stuff you didn’t catch the last listen. As much as I walk around my office telling everyone how good these guys are, they always step up and deliver content that makes me feel like I don’t even know how good they can be. They might have a Gangstarr-Moment of Truth level album in their system. Give them time.